The Times and The Sunday Times Profile picture
Oct 2, 2021 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Seven months before his triumph in Tokyo, Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) was rushed to hospital with Covid

The gold medallist reveals for the first time what happened thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-da…
Britain’s most decorated diver turned crafting icon arrives on foot to his interview with The Times, a suitcase of homemade creations in tow

Daley took up needles during lockdown – sight many witnessed on the sidelines of this year’s Olympics
“My coach wanted me to find something to chill out with and stop me overthinking”

He shows off his “cosy” – a little woollen home he fashioned for his long-anticipated medal, featuring the Union Jack on one side and the Japanese flag on the other.
But When Daley speaks of the pandemic and its impact, he’s not talking about the Olympics and his diving

In January this year he began to suffer headaches and dizziness, which, initially, he put down to a mild concussion he’d sustained in training on New Year’s Eve
Then the fever took hold, veering from racking chills and chattering teeth to burning heat

He ached, felt faint, couldn’t speak more than two words and his husband, Dustin Black, had to help him walk down the stairs
The next morning, he shuffled the mile and a half to the nearest centre for a PCR test, which proved positive. Black then developed symptoms too, just as Daley’s worsened
A paramedic was dispatched and decided, given Daley’s history with pneumonia, he should be hospitalised

Chest X-rays revealed blotches on his lungs

He was given oxygen and monitored for ten hours before being sent home
He hasn't ever spoken about contracting Covid until now

“You can’t let your competitors think that they’ve got one up on you. I wanted them to think that I was training as hard as them”
There is, he thinks, a lingering 5% reduction in his cardiovascular fitness because of it
Daley says that there were moments where he had flashes of fear about whether he would be put on a ventilator, and his time being up

“I was really terrified”
thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-da…

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More from @thetimes

Nov 7
Pollsters have underestimated Trump’s white working-class voter base as their survey methods cater too much to Democratic voters, experts claim

🔓 This is free to read thetimes.com/world/us-world…
On the eve of election day, the polls had predicted the closest race in modern times. Instead, it was a rout
With Donald Trump poised to sweep Kamala Harris in all seven swing states, the pollsters — despite spending an estimated half a billion dollars on surveying the nation — underestimated the president-elect’s support for the third election in a row
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Nov 2
🔺EXCLUSIVE: King Charles and his eldest son make millions from feudal levies on schools, hospitals, homeowners and the very charities they represent, a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and @C4Dispatches reveals today thetimes.com/uk/royal-famil…
@C4Dispatches The ancient property empires that fund the King and the Prince of Wales have remained a closely guarded secret within the royal family and its small circle of advisers for centuries.

Even parliament has been denied access to the list of landholdings held by the royals
@C4Dispatches We used the royal addresses to uncover how the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are making millions of pounds by charging government departments, councils, businesses and the general public via a series of rents and feudal levies on land largely seized by medieval monarchs Image
Read 10 tweets
Oct 23
Sir Keir Starmer has rejected Donald Trump's claims of US election meddling but the Republican presidential candidate has filed an official complaint — follow live updates below ⬇️

🔓 Free to read

thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…
The complaint was filed on Monday by Gary Lawkowski, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, and accuses Labour of “forgetting the message” of the American War of Independence
The Trump campaign have used a post by Sofa Patel, Labour’s head of operations, as evidence of its claim of election interference.

Patel said in a LinkedIn post last week that she had almost 100 “current (and former) party staff” ready to campaign for Harris in many swing states
Read 9 tweets
Sep 28
🔺EXCLUSIVE: Rosie Duffield (@RosieDuffield1) has resigned as a Labour MP, blaming Sir Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies and the freebies row that is engulfing him and his party
Duffield, 53, has become the fastest MP to jump ship after a general election in modern political history. She is writing to the prime minister today informing him of her decision to resign the whip “with immediate effect”
In her resignation letter, which she has shared with The Sunday Times exclusively, Duffield condemned Starmer for accepting gifts worth more than £100,000, including clothing, glasses and accommodation paid for by Lord Alli, the Labour peer
Read 9 tweets
Jul 16
Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has been accused of “subverting” cabinet ministers in an effort to secure a government bailout of up to £310m to rebuild a derelict stadium in Belfast thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…
Sue Gray has angered government officials and ministers by “personally dominating” negotiations for a bailout for Casement Park, a dilapidated Gaelic games venue due to host matches at the 2028 European football championship
Gray’s close interest in the project, which is politically contentious in Northern Ireland, has caused resentment among Labour ministers who have been told there is no money for new spending commitments
Read 6 tweets
May 15
Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has been injured in a shooting and taken to hospital, according to local reports ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/slovak…
🔺 UPDATE: Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, is in a life-threatening condition after being shot in the street ⬇️

thetimes.co.uk/article/slovak…
The attack happened in the town of Handlova, 85 miles northeast of Bratislava
Read 8 tweets

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